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Question 1. Which of the following best describes the “Flow” principle of the Three Ways in DevOps? A) Rapid feedback from production to development B) Continuous learning and experimentation C) Optimizing the value stream to deliver work faster D) Automating security testing early in the pipeline Answer: C Explanation: The Flow principle focuses on improving the value stream to move work from development to operations quickly and reliably. Question 2. An organization where developers are responsible for writing production‑ready code, but operations still own the deployment servers, is exhibiting which anti‑pattern? A) “Fire‑fighting” B) “Siloed ownership” C) “Shift‑left testing” D) “Infrastructure as code” Answer: B Explanation: Siloed ownership keeps responsibilities separated, preventing true DevOps collaboration. Question 3. In a “Squad” model, which of the following is the most common composition? A) A single specialist for each technology stack B) A cross‑functional team containing developers, QA, and operations C) Only senior engineers and a product manager D) Separate teams for development, testing, and operations that meet weekly Answer: B Explanation: Squads are small, cross‑functional groups that own end‑to‑end delivery.
Question 4. A “blame‑free” post‑mortem focuses on which of the following? A) Identifying the individual who caused the failure B) Punishing teams that break processes C) Understanding systemic root causes and improving the system D) Assigning financial penalties for downtime Answer: C Explanation: Blame‑free retrospectives aim to uncover systemic issues without targeting individuals. Question 5. Which agile ceremony aligns most naturally with a DevOps continuous delivery cadence? A) Sprint Planning B) Daily Stand‑up C) Sprint Review D) Retrospective Answer: B Explanation: Daily stand‑ups provide quick status updates that help synchronize development and operations throughout the delivery cycle. Question 6. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is primarily used to: A) Estimate story points for agile planning B) Visualize and eliminate waste in the software delivery process C) Define security policies for microservices D) Create Docker container images Answer: B
Answer: B Explanation: SonarQube evaluates code quality, security, and maintainability. Question 10. Which deployment strategy routes a small percentage of live traffic to a new version before full rollout? A) Blue‑Green B) Canary C) Rolling D) Shadow Answer: B Explanation: Canary releases expose a limited subset of users to the new version for validation. Question 11. In a Blue‑Green deployment, the “green” environment typically represents: A) The current production version B) The staging environment with the new release C) A backup database only D) The development branch in Git Answer: B Explanation: The green environment holds the new version; traffic is switched from blue (current) to green after validation. Question 12. Which of the following is a key benefit of automated rollback mechanisms? A) Reducing the need for monitoring tools B) Eliminating the need for canary testing C) Quickly restoring service when health checks fail D) Removing the need for version control
Answer: C Explanation: Automated rollbacks revert to a known good state automatically when health checks detect failure. Question 13. A “health‑check gate” in a CD pipeline typically runs after: A) Code commit B) Unit test execution C) Deployment to a staging environment D) Artifact storage Answer: C Explanation: Health checks verify the deployed service’s runtime behavior before promotion. Question 14. Which repository type is best suited for storing large binary artifacts such as Docker images? A) GitHub B) JFrog Artifactory C) Subversion D) Mercurial Answer: B Explanation: Artifactory (or Nexus) is designed for binary artifact management, including Docker images. Question 15. Semantic versioning for microservices typically increments the minor number when: A) A backward‑incompatible API change is introduced B) A new feature that is backward compatible is added
D) Terraform.tf Answer: B Explanation: Puppet manifests (.pp) declare the desired system state. Question 19. Terraform’s “state file” is critical because it: A) Stores encrypted passwords for all resources B) Tracks the mapping between configuration and real infrastructure resources C) Contains Docker image layers D) Holds CI pipeline logs Answer: B Explanation: The state file records resource IDs and attributes to enable incremental updates. Question 20. When using Terraform modules, the recommended practice for versioning is to: A) Hard‑code the module source URL without a version B) Pin the module to a specific version tag or commit SHA C) Use the latest commit each run D) Store modules in a local folder only Answer: B Explanation: Pinning ensures reproducible builds and prevents unexpected changes. Question 21. “Golden Image” refers to: A) A Dockerfile with multiple stages B) A pre‑built, immutable machine image used as a baseline for provisioning C) A Helm chart version D) An Ansible role that manages secrets
Answer: B Explanation: Golden images are immutable snapshots (e.g., AMIs) used to launch identical instances. Question 22. Vagrant is most commonly used for: A) Production orchestration of Kubernetes clusters B) Reproducible local development environments using virtual machines or containers C) Managing secrets in CI pipelines D) Monitoring server health via plugins Answer: B Explanation: Vagrant automates creation of consistent dev environments. Question 23. A multi‑stage Dockerfile improves build efficiency by: A) Running all commands in a single layer B) Separating build and runtime stages to produce smaller final images C) Embedding secret keys directly in the image D) Using a single base image for all stages Answer: B Explanation: Multi‑stage builds discard build‑time artifacts, yielding lean runtime images. Question 24. Which Docker networking mode allows containers to share the host’s network stack? A) bridge B) host C) overlay D) macvlan Answer: B
Explanation: Roles define rules that are bound to users or groups via RoleBindings. Question 28. Helm charts simplify Kubernetes deployments by: A) Replacing the need for Docker images B) Providing templated manifests with versioned packaging C) Automatically scaling pods based on CPU usage D) Managing secret encryption at runtime Answer: B Explanation: Helm packages Kubernetes resources as reusable, versioned charts. Question 29. GitOps with Argo CD primarily synchronizes which two elements? A) Dockerfile and Docker image registry B) Git repository state and live Kubernetes cluster state C) Jenkins pipeline definitions and SonarQube reports D) Terraform state files and AWS IAM policies Answer: B Explanation: Argo CD continuously reconciles the desired state in Git with the actual cluster state. Question 30. Which of the following is a characteristic of a stateful application in Kubernetes? A) It can be scaled down to zero without data loss B) It relies on PersistentVolumeClaims to retain data across pod restarts C) It never uses ConfigMaps D) It only runs as a Job object Answer: B Explanation: Stateful apps require persistent storage to preserve data.
Question 31. Nagios primarily provides: A) Distributed tracing across microservices B) Infrastructure health monitoring via plugins and alerts C) Log aggregation and search D) Continuous integration pipelines Answer: B Explanation: Nagios monitors hosts/services and triggers alerts based on plugin checks. Question 32. Which time‑series database is most commonly paired with Grafana for metrics visualization? A) MySQL B) Elasticsearch C) Prometheus D) MongoDB Answer: C Explanation: Prometheus scrapes metrics and stores them for Grafana dashboards. Question 33. In the ELK stack, Logstash’s main role is to: A) Store logs for fast retrieval B) Visualize log data in dashboards C) Ingest, transform, and forward logs to Elasticsearch D) Provide alerting on log patterns Answer: C Explanation: Logstash parses and enriches logs before sending them to Elasticsearch.
A. Deploy code without any monitoring B. Compare two variants of a feature to determine which performs better C. Automate database backups D. Replace CI pipelines with manual steps Answer: B Explanation: A/B testing serves two versions to users and measures key metrics to decide the winner. Question 38. Which of the following is an example of a “feedback loop” in a DevOps pipeline? A. Running unit tests after code commit B. Deploying to production without monitoring C. Ignoring user complaints after release D. Hard‑coding credentials in scripts Answer: A Explanation: Automated tests provide immediate feedback to developers about code quality. Question 39. The “Three Ways” promote continuous learning primarily through which practice? A. Automated rollback B. Immutable infrastructure C. Experimentation and innovation in a safe environment D. Manual change management Answer: C Explanation: The third way encourages a culture of learning, sharing, and experimenting.
Question 40. Which of the following is a common symptom of a “siloed” organization? A. Frequent cross‑team code reviews B. Teams sharing a single CI/CD pipeline C. Delayed handoffs and duplicated effort D. Unified incident response process Answer: C Explanation: Silos cause handoff delays and duplicated work due to lack of collaboration. Question 41. In a “blame‑free” culture, a post‑mortem should: A. List the employee responsible for each failure B. Focus on systemic gaps and actionable improvements C. Recommend disciplinary action D. Be kept secret from the rest of the organization Answer: B Explanation: The goal is to learn and improve, not to assign guilt. Question 42. Which Scrum artifact can be directly mapped to a DevOps “definition of done” checklist? A. Product Backlog B. Sprint Goal C. Increment D. Sprint Retrospective Answer: C Explanation: The Increment is the potentially shippable product that meets the definition of done. Question 43. When applying Value Stream Mapping, the “process time” metric excludes:
B. Create Docker images automatically C. Manage Kubernetes secrets D. Perform static code analysis Answer: A Explanation: Orbs package reusable CircleCI configuration. Question 47. Which of the following is NOT a typical step in a CI pipeline? A. Code checkout B. Unit testing C. Blue‑Green deployment to production D. Static analysis Answer: C Explanation: Blue‑Green deployment is a CD activity, not part of CI. Question 48. A canary release is safest when combined with: A. Manual approval after each pod starts B. Real‑time health checks and automated rollback C. Disabling monitoring during rollout D. Deploying to a single node only Answer: B Explanation: Continuous health monitoring enables rapid rollback if the canary fails. Question 49. Which artifact repository supports both Maven and Docker registries out of the box? A. GitLab Container Registry B. Sonatype Nexus
C. AWS S
D. Azure DevOps Pipelines Answer: B Explanation: Nexus can host Maven, npm, Docker, and many other repository formats. Question 50. In semantic versioning, a change that removes an existing API endpoint without backward compatibility requires: A. Incrementing the PATCH version B. Incrementing the MINOR version C. Incrementing the MAJOR version D. No version change needed Answer: C Explanation: Breaking changes require a major version bump. Question 51. Ansible’s “roles” are primarily used to: A. Store encrypted variables only B. Organize playbooks into reusable, self‑contained units C. Deploy Kubernetes clusters automatically D. Manage Terraform state files Answer: B Explanation: Roles provide a standardized directory structure for reusable tasks, handlers, and variables. Question 52. Chef’s “Chef Supermarket” is analogous to which of the following? A. Docker Hub for container images B. Ansible Galaxy for sharing roles C. Terraform Registry for modules
D. Short‑lived CI job containers Answer: C Explanation: Golden images provide a stable base for workloads that need identical OS and configuration. Question 56. Which Vagrant command initializes a new project with a default Vagrantfile? A. vagrant init B. vagrant up C. vagrant provision D. vagrant destroy Answer: A Explanation: vagrant init creates a starter Vagrantfile. Question 57. In Docker, the --chown flag in a COPY instruction is used to: A. Change the image’s entrypoint B. Set the ownership of copied files inside the image C. Encrypt the copied files D. Tag the image with a version number Answer: B Explanation: --chown defines the UID/GID for files after they are copied. Question 58. Which Docker build option reduces the final image size by discarding intermediate layers? A. --no-cache B. --pull C. --target (used with multi‑stage builds) D. --rm
Answer: C Explanation: --target selects the final stage of a multi‑stage Dockerfile, omitting earlier layers. Question 59. An overlay network in Docker Swarm is primarily used to: A. Connect containers across multiple hosts as if they were on the same bridge network B. Provide host‑level networking only C. Store container logs centrally D. Manage secret distribution Answer: A Explanation: Overlay networks enable cross‑host container communication. Question 60. In Kubernetes, a StatefulSet differs from a Deployment by: A. Providing ordered, stable pod identities and persistent storage B. Automatically scaling to zero pods C. Managing only daemon processes D. Using a different API version only Answer: A Explanation: StatefulSets guarantee stable network IDs and ordered deployment for stateful workloads. Question 61. What is the purpose of a PodSecurityPolicy (deprecated in newer releases) in Kubernetes? A. Define network policies for pods B. Enforce security standards such as running as non‑root C. Manage secret rotation automatically D. Schedule pods on specific nodes only
